Police: Tesla video leads officers to suspect in two armed robberies
STAMFORD — An all-seeing electric car, whose cameras are on even when it is parked and shut off, led officers to a man who police said committed at least two robberies in Stamford’s South End in late August.
Francisco Olivencia, 29, of Pacific Street, was charged with first-degree robbery, criminal possession of a firearm and first-degree threatening in the back-to-back robberies, police said.
He was held on $250,000 court appearance bond at the Bridgeport Correctional Center, police said. No plea has been made in the case.
Although he has been arraigned, Olivencia’s case has not yet been assigned to a public defender and he is due back in court on Sept. 21, court documents said. The case was transferred to the Part A docket in Superior Court, where the most serious cases are adjudicated.
According to the sixpage arrest warrant released by police earlier this week, officers were called to East Walnut Street at 10 p.m. Aug. 31 after a man reported he had been robbed by another man with a gun who stepped out of a silver Ford Explorer.
While an officer talked to the robbery victim, a second armed robbery of two other men was reported on nearby Woodland Place minutes later, the arrest warrant said. The victims described a similar suspect: a skinny, dark-skinned Hispanic male, wearing a white shirt and dark pants, the arrest warrant said.
Officers quickly found a nearby resident who owns a red Tesla Model 3 with factory-installed cameras that was parked in the area of 20 Woodland Place, the arrest warrant said. The vehicle, which records video even when parked and turned off, provided key evidence, police said.
When the video was reviewed by investigators, they spotted the skinny suspect talking to the operator of the silver SUV, the warrant said. They were also able to read its Connecticut license plate, which matched a 2011 Silver Ford Explorer, the warrant said.
Milford police spotted that same vehicle twice the next morning at a Motel 6 in Milford, and registration checks were run on the vehicle, the affidavit said.
When police checked surveillance cameras at the motel, they found a person who appeared to be the same Hispanic male described by the robbery victims and the person in the Tesla video checking into the motel and paying $100 in cash for a room, the affidavit said.
The man was quickly identified as Olivencia by investigator Damien Rosa, who has had dealings with him in the past, the arrest warrant said. Records from Motel 6 confirmed that the room was rented in Olivencia’s name, the affidavit said.
Police say Olivencia has an extensive criminal history, with arrests on charges of violation of probation and sale and distribution of narcotics and hallucinogens in 2012, 2014 and 2017. As a result. he is prohibited from possessing a firearm and is currently under parole supervision.
Investigators are looking into three other armed robberies “where the method of operation, physical descriptions of the suspects and the physical descriptions of the fleeing suspect vehicle all match that of Olivencia,” the affidavit said.
The other robberies took place on Rose Park Avenue, William Street and East Walnut Street between Aug 31 and Sept. 2, the affidavit said. In the William Street robbery on Sept. 2, the suspect fired a shot at the victim, who was not injured, the affidavit said.
Lt. Tom Scanlon, who heads the Bureau of Criminal Investigations, credited investigator Louis Burdi, Sgt. Sean Boeger and other officers for putting the case together quickly.
“Olivencia was part of a dangerous crew who committed numerous armed robberies in Stamford in a short duration of time,” Scanlon said. “Investigators are still pursuing cases against him that he may have been involved in.”